Sunday, January 07, 2007

Copper revenue in Chile

The NYT has an interesting look at Chile’s copper windfall, which is bringing in greater than expected revenue, largely because of very high demand in China. Although it doesn’t mention the issue explicitly, it highlights the fact that “socialist” in Chile doesn’t mean much anymore, and so the government cannot be lumped together with Venezuela or Bolivia. The Bachelet administration is talking only about responsible spending and putting money away for a rainy day.

The article also brings up the infamous Copper Law, whereby the military gets a 10 percent cut of copper revenue for acquisitions. This blatantly undemocratic law has been a bone of contention for years, with constant rumors of getting rid of it. Bachelet brought it up and then dropped it as Defense Minister, and now her own Defense Minister is mentioning it again. Politically, the timing could be right as the armed forces are weakened after all the Pinochet scandals as well as serious fatal accidents involving conscripts.

3 comments:

Greg Weeks 11:21 AM  

Though I think in recent years the Concertación designated senators outnumbered the military ones. This was one reason the right was not so concerned about abolishing the institution.

Anonymous,  6:51 PM  

The common refrain from the right these days is "Sure, the government is being prudent. But with copper prices at an all time high the economy should be growing at 8% per year, not at 5% which is all the Socialist government is capable of doing."

Greg Weeks 9:17 AM  

As campaign slogans go, though, that's not exactly rousing. "Vote for us: we're just a bit more capitalist!"

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